Do parents have children to bring more tax payers into the world? :)
You say it like it's a silly idea, but not long ago people in America had children expressly for the purpose of helping around the farm, and in Asian cultures there is still an explicit overtone that parents have children so that they have someone to depend upon in old age.
And by 'explicit overtone', I mean your parents say it to your face and you become a social pariah if you abandon your family- at least as best I understand it from my Asian friends.
Agreed, in asia a family unit is not just parents and their children. It involves, grandparents, and great grandparents if they are around. It's not a "you have to take care of me" kind of a deal but something like "family takes care of itself" -> when you have kids, grandparents help out actively in raising them, then you are adults you help your parents, physicall, financially. Families often have assets stowed away as a collective unit.
You say it like it's a silly idea, but not long ago people in America had children expressly for the purpose of helping around the farm, and in Asian cultures there is still an explicit overtone that parents have children so that they have someone to depend upon in old age.
And by 'explicit overtone', I mean your parents say it to your face and you become a social pariah if you abandon your family- at least as best I understand it from my Asian friends.